Tag Archives: shallot

Paleo Chicken Marsala

Marsala wine is walking a fine line by calling it paleo but then I’ve been known to have 18 items in the “15-item only” line so I’ll be a rebel with this one. But by all means, if you find a suitable paleo substitute for marsala wine, knock your socks off. That being said, this recipe is paleo(ish), dairy free and gluten free so that’s pretty good I’d say.

First of all, I want to give mad props to http://www.grandbaby-cakes.com/2015/03/skinny-chicken-marsala/ for providing the basis for this recipe. I changed up a couple of things like using arrowroot starch (paleo and gluten free) and using bone broth instead of chicken stock because I wanted to amp up the nutritional stats.

First, split each chicken breasts in half (you’ll have 4 pieces total) and place them between plastic wrap or in a big plastic bag and hammer away. Pound those babies till they are about a 1/4″ thick. Normally I would use a meat mallet but I don’t have one so I improvised.

Season generously with sea salt and pepper then dredge in the arrowroot starch. You can use regular or gluten free flour if you aren’t concerned with being paleo. Tap off the access and repeat until all 4 pieces are dredged.

Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and a 1/2 tablespoon of unsalted butter. When good and hot, place chicken in pan. Leave chicken untouched for around 3 – 4 minutes to brown. Once browned, turn over and repeat on the other side. Set aside.

I cooked my chicken 2 pieces at a time so they wouldn’t be too crowded in the pan. If you have a really big pan, you can cook them all at once.

While your chicken is cooking, chop your shallots and slice mushrooms. I used my new portable food processor for the shallots and bought pre-sliced shitake mushrooms so the only thing I really had to chop were the button mushrooms.

Once chicken is done, place on a plate and set aside. Add another 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and another 1/2 tablespoon of unsalted butter. Add shallots and garlic to the pan. Saute for a couple of minutes until shallots are soft.

Add mushrooms next and sprinkle with a 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt. Saute for about 4 – 5 minutes until mushrooms are browning and soft, not mushy though. Add the remaining tablespoon of arrowroot starch and stir for about a minute to thicken up the sauce.

Add marsala wine and cook it down for a minute, scraping any burnt bits off of the bottom of the pan. Add your bone broth and continue cooking until it thickens up a bit. About 2 or 3 minutes.

Return chicken to the pan and nestle the breasts in the mushrooms sauce, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, flip breasts over and cook for another 3 minutes.

You can eat it ‘as-is’ or top some organic brown rice, quinoa, farro or zucchini ‘zoodles’.

Hubby’s review: He gave me the thumbs up and said “good chit babe”. Pretty legit review <3 Enjoy.

Place pieces between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and pound to about ¼ inch thick.

Salt/pepper each piece generously.

Dredge each piece in arrowroot starch and shake off access.

Heat ½ tablespoon of olive oil and unsalted butter in a large non-stick pan on medium/high.

Place chicken in pan and leave untouched for about 3 - 4 minutes until browned. Turn over and repeat on the other side, set aside.

Heat other ½ tablespoon of olive oil and unsalted butter.

Saute garlic and shallots until shallots are softened. About 2 minutes.

Add mushrooms next and sprinkle with a ¼ teaspoon of sea salt. Saute for about 4 - 5 minutes until mushrooms are browning and soft, not mushy though. Add the remaining tablespoon of arrowroot starch and stir for about a minute to thicken up the sauce.

Add marsala wine and cook off for a minute, scraping the burnt bits from the bottom of the pan if any.

Add bone broth and cook for 3 - 4 minutes.

Return chicken to the pan and nestle the breasts in the mushrooms sauce, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, flip breasts over and cook for another 3 minutes.

Easy Thai Coconut Curry Scallops with Jasmine Rice

A friend recently went to Vegas and was talking up a coconut curry scallop dish they had at the Bellagio. Well then all I could think about was coconut curry scallops so I needed to try out a recipe and see how things went.

I found this recipe on line that had ingredients I could tweak to make it paleo and gluten free. It was unbelievably easy to do. Just a couple of small tweaks is all you need sometimes. Which goes to show that very few recipes can be off limits to you if you just know what to substitute. The taste is the same, just better ingredients,

To make this recipe really easy as far as steps go, I chopped everything I needed first. This took about 10 minutes. It went fast. I put all the ingredients in their own little piles so I’d be ready for them in a snap. This dish cooked up in a little over 30 minutes and you’ll look like a kitchen ninja 🙂

Next I made the sauce. All I did was put in all the ingredients called for. No fancy schmancy crap, easy like weezy. While the sauce is simmering, salt and pepper the scallops.

After sauce has been cookin’, add your thawed scallops. Cook scallops about 3 minutes on each side. To test doneness, cut one open and make sure it’s white, not opaque. You don’t want to overcook the scallops though, they can get rubbery.

I made some jasmine rice to go with the scallops so if you do that, start it as soon as you start chopping the ingredients because the rice takes about 35 minutes. You could also use brown rice or quinoa, whatever floats your boat.

Sweet & Tangy Peach, Tomato & Blue Cheese Salad

It’s finally warm out and it’s time to break out the summer salads. We found the first of the summer peaches this weekend and I wanted to make this recipe I remember finding in a magazine recently.

This salad makes my mouth super happy because of the combination of sweet and tangy and my body happy because it’s low-fat and gluten-free.

I found a great little pre-packaged mix of tri-colored heirloom tomatoes the same day so it was destiny that I make this. I love the mix of color from the orange, yellow and red heirlooms. It makes a very attractive looking salad. I would even top this with a grilled chicken breast if I was having this as a meal rather than a side.